Al Sharpton: I wished I were in debate

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who is still weighing his presidential endorsement, watched Tuesday night's Democratic debate like a retired prizefighter kibitzing from the sidelines.

"Ooooo. She came to rumble tonight!" he said at one point, his eyes alight with the thrill of combat. "Follow up, Edwards and Obama! Don't let her get away with that!" he said at another.

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"She beat him to Katrina," he crowed when Hillary Clinton got in the first reference to President Bush's failures after the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane.

Sharpton's 2004 run for President was memorable mainly for his quick-witted debate performances. And no matter how tame the action was Tuesday night, he clearly missed being in the fray.

"I wish I was up there. I could have thrown some real haymakers," he said as he watched the Democrats do battle on a big screen at a swanky Fifth Avenue cigar club where he is a regular.

But Sharpton said he saw little Tuesday night to sway him - because racial issues got such short shrift at a debate that was supposedly on "brown and black" issues.

"This is all theater," he said. "I have no idea what specifically they would do to deal with racial disparities in health care, in education, in home mortgages. They never talk about it. What happened to hate crimes?

"How can you go in front of an audience of that constituency and not address those issues?"

Sharpton said he had intended to announce his pick before the Jan. 29 South Carolina primary but will probably wait now that the race issue has roiled the contest.

"When it got that ugly, everyone kind of froze," he said.

Plus, he figures the longer he holds off, the more he can pressure the candidates to address civil rights and racial justice.

All the Democrats are wooing Sharpton on a scale that would seem unimaginable not long ago, including making personal calls to seek his counsel.

Former President Bill Clinton spent an hour on his radio show taking calls just yesterday.

"Who would have thought a few years ago that Bill Clinton would come on my show?" Sharpton marveled.